Ruckus networks to make a ruckus on college campuses

HERNDON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ruckus Network, Inc., provider of the only ad-supported, free and legal digital entertainment service for college students, added tons of new features to its service offering this summer in preparation for the 2007 school year. Now any student in the United States with a valid .edu e-mail address can browse, play and legally download the more than three million songs/videos in the extensive Ruckus® library. Ruckus added loads of new stuff, including more features, more content and more social networking to welcome back students nationwide.

New This Semester:

• “The Perfect Dorm” Contest – A back-to-school contest that gives all users the chance to win “The Perfect Dorm” – spring break getaways from SunSplash tours, a Sony VAIO notebook laptop, an Xbox 360 with Guitar Hero and two wireless guitars, a Bose multimedia speaker system, a large Westinghouse flat-panel LCD monitor, a Trek 6000 mountain bike and more.
• My Ruckus Music Application for Facebook – An interactive way for students to share their Ruckus experience with friends in the massive Facebook student community, and within their own Facebook groups, networks and friends. The app lets students share their faves, see what their classmates are listening to and immediately download the music for free.
  
• More Than Three Million Songs – All available legally and for free, as well as virus-free, to college students through established partnerships with all major labels – Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI – and thousands of indie labels. The library has doubled from 1.5 million tracks available last fall.

• Musical Promos – New musical promotions focus on getting students even closer to the music and to the “action” including an American Idol Live! tour ticket giveaway (a pair of tickets for all 56 dates), tour exclusives, and meet-and-greets from indie rockers Circa Survive.

Coming Soon to a Campus Near You:

• Student-Only Gaming Channel – Ruckus is also adding a gaming channel with multi-player games, solo games, demos, trailers and more. Multi-player games provide a better, more competitive gaming experience by allowing student users to play with other members of the Ruckus community.
• Music Recommendation Engine – The new service will scan a user’s music library and point them to other tracks in Ruckus’ massive library for instant downloads. It also will highlight other users with similar music preferences. This allows users to connect based on similar music tastes, as well as discover and share music in a fresh way.

Ruckus’ Rapid Invasion:

• Monthly free and legal downloads averaging 20 million per month
• Used by students at 1,000-plus college campuses nationwide – 1,237% more schools than last year
• More than 173 official college and university partners

Click Me:

• Ruckus Service
• Facebook App
• Share Ruckus

The Buzz Factor:

• “From the second I downloaded Ruckus, I haven't stopped adding songs,” said Joanna Childers, student at Duke University. “There is so much content on there, it’s ridiculous. I was pumped to see that a lot of lesser-known bands I listen to had their stuff available on Ruckus, and with new releases every week, I’m always able to get new albums the day they come out. It has definitely made downloading music a whole lot easier.”

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Tags: Rukus Network, Rukus, free music download, facebook, 2007 school year, three million songs, social networking, “The Perfect Dorm”, American Idol Live